Butterfly Sanctuary

A woman’s face fills the canvas, tilted and smiling straight at the viewer, her curls threaded with small flowers and a monarch tucked in above her brow. Another monarch has landed right on her cheek, wings spread flat and orange against her skin, and she doesn’t flinch from it — if anything, the smile widens. The background dissolves into soft green, letting her expression and the butterflies carry the whole piece. I kept the palette warm around her face so the skin tones glow next to all that garden color. It’s a portrait built entirely on that one small, delighted moment of a butterfly landing exactly where it landed.